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Classic car owners have stories to tell

1935 Auburn Speedster and 1930 Duesenberg on display at the show.

Vernon Smith of Swift Current, Nfld., poses for pictures with his 1935 Auburn Speedster at the Canadian International Auto Show at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto. (Vince Talotta / Toronto Star)

Roger Willbanks of Denver, Colo., poses with his 1930 Duesenberg at the Canadian International Auto Show at the Metro Convention Centre. (Vince Talotta / Toronto Star)

By Perry LefkoSpecial to the Star

Sat., Feb. 20, 2016

Every car has a story. So does its owner.

Vernon Smith of Swift Current, Nfld., and Roger Willbanks of Denver, Colo., are collectors of classic cars, a couple of which are on display at the Art and the Automobile Exhibit at the Canadian International Auto Show.

Smith’s car is a 1935 Auburn 851 Boattail Speedster, designed by Gordon Buehrig. Powered by a supercharged straight-eight engine, the car had a top speed of more than 160 km/h in its day. Smith has more than 60 cars in his collection from 1908-1970 and has a website dedicated to it — www.vernonsantiquetoyshop.ca. Almost all of them are convertibles.

Willbanks has a 1930 Duesenberg Model SJ Victoria. He won’t reveal how many cars he has in his collection.

“That’s like describing how many girlfriends you’ve had,” he said.

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Smith has owned the Auburn Speedster for only three years. It was a car he just had to add to his collection.

He wouldn’t say how much he paid for the car, plus the restoration — it’s a thing of beauty, glistening like the day it was produced — only that it was “substantial.”

When asked if he had to have a heck of a lot of money or an understanding wife in order to pay for his hobby, Smith said with a laugh: “I have both. My wife is receptive to the fact. Needless to say, not the same passion or desire that I have. From the time that I was knee-high to a grasshopper, as we say back in Newfoundland, I always had a keen interest in the automobile.”

He is retired from the power line construction business.

“I’m having a lot of fun now, as I did previously,” he said.

He took exceptional pride in describing his latest purchase.

“You see how artistic this thing is, it’ll blow your mind away,” he said. “They only built this car for 1935 and 1936, and the credit has to go to Gordon Buehrig. He had just come to work for Auburn after working for Duesenberg. Auburn had 50 bodies left over in Union City from the 1934 model year. Buehrig took the horizontal top and decided to taper it downward, hence came the nickname of the Boattail. Then he went to the Auburn management, got a $50,000 budget, and reconfigured the 50 bodies that were left over.”

That led to the first series, which Smith said were marketed for $2,240, which was a hefty sum at the time and were meant to be rolling art. The first 50 models sold out quickly, and an additional 50 were manufactured.

“This car is believed to be one of the first 25 from the first edition,” Smith said. “The remaining 75 were 1936s. I think it’s fair to say this thing is the modern-day race car for its day. As each car left the showroom floor, it was placed with a plaque, as this one does, signed by (race car driver) Ab Jenkins, indicating the 100 mile-per-hour (160 km) capacity.”

Willbanks said he has owned his car for about eight years. The vehicle, owned at one time by 1920s big band leader Paul Whiteman, had been restored when Willbanks purchased it.

“The chance to get a supercharged one that is listed among the 36 was very attractive to me,” he said. “I have some other Duesenbergs, and they are fantastic cars. If a car is really interesting, it turns me on as good history and good performance. I like special cars, and I owned a similar one to that. It was so advanced in its lines.”

Willbanks, who is a senior citizen but won’t reveal his exact age, said he saw his first Duesenberg when he was eight.

“I had pedalled my bike up where I could get a malted milk, and across the street was this car, and I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I had never seen anything like that in person. I parked my bike and went across the street, and I studied the car. I was hooked. I had no chance for a real life.”

The owner came by and was stunned the youngster knew all about Duesenbergs. Willbanks had seen an ad about the vehicle in an old car book given to him by his mother, and the owner allowed him to sit in the car.

Many years later, Willbanks was offered a chance to purchase that exact car. A year after he bought the car, he told the previous owner the story of his first encounter with it.

“The owner said, ‘Damn, if I had known that, it would have cost you a lot more money,’ ” Willbanks said.

Freelance writer Perry Lefko contributes to Toronto Star Wheels. To reach him, email wheels@thestar.ca and put his name in the subject line.

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